Too much black malt

Guys,
I cooked up a self invented porter recipe. Started fermentation on Friday and I tested a sample today.

Recipe:

6 lbs light DME
1 lb honey
0.5 lb Caramel 80L
0.5 lb Chocolate
0.25 lb Black

0.75 oz Pearle 9% @ 60 min
1.00 oz Fuggles 4.5% @ 30 min

I tested SG and fermentation is done, so I tasted it and it tasted kinda burnt and more bitter than I expected. It has only been 4 days.

Do you guys think this burnt flavor is due to that 0.25 lb (4 oz) black malt? Do you think this will mellow out in time? Is it worth investing 5 more weeks on this beer?

I think it will definitely be worth waiting for. Early samples of about anything will taste bitter. Dark beers will almost always get better with a little time for the roasty/toasty malts to level out too. Good luck, should be a good beer!

hernlui said:

Guys,
I cooked up a self invented porter recipe. Started fermentation on Friday and I tested a sample today.

Recipe:

6 lbs light DME
1 lb honey
0.5 lb Caramel 80L
0.5 lb Chocolate
0.25 lb Black

0.75 oz Pearle 9% @ 60 min
1.00 oz Fuggles 4.5% @ 30 min

I tested SG and fermentation is done, so I tasted it and it tasted kinda burnt and more bitter than I expected. It has only been 4 days.

Do you guys think this burnt flavor is due to that 0.25 lb (4 oz) black malt? Do you think this will mellow out in time? Is it worth investing 5 more weeks on this beer?

Click to expand...

Fermentation is never done in 4 days. The yeast might have eaten the sugars to give you a proper gravity reading but they definitely aren't done. There is a ton of other compounds the yeast will take care of to make your brew better if you just give them time. Let it have the 5 more weeks, 4 of that in the primary fermenter and the last one in bottles or kegs and the taste will change. Being such a dark brew, longer time in the bottles or keg will help it smooth out even more.

Yeah that's what I'm going to do. I have a trip coming up and I was going to bottle before that, but I'm just going to leave it in the primary fermenter and bottle when I get back and give it time to mellow out.
Thanks.

With the Black, Chocolate and Caramel 80 that is pretty malty. I would let it stay in primary for 3-4 weeks then bottle. I would expect a longer conditioning period before the beer comes of age. Maybe a couple of months.

Yep; the burn't flavor is from the black.

But ..... the good news is, it will lessen. At 4 days, the beer is probably cloudy and you have lots of dust from the black grains in suspension in the sample you tasted. When fermentation finishes and everything settles, it will improve.

The particles are so fine, you cannot see them. Just because the beer is clear, it may still have a lot in suspension. As a minimum I'd recommende leaving it an extra week (after clearing) before bottling to let it settle so you leave the dust in the fermenter and it doesn't make it to the bottles. Fining would help.

I am going to bottle after 4 to 5 weeks. After this long, will there still be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate properly in the bottles? Does anybody recommend adding more yeast with the priming solution?

I made a brown ale and left it in the fermenter for 9 weeks and it still had plenty of yeast to carbonate. I've heard that after 5 to 6 months you may need to add yeast.

hernlui said:

I am going to bottle after 4 to 5 weeks. After this long, will there still be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate properly in the bottles? Does anybody recommend adding more yeast with the priming solution?

Click to expand...

My beers usually go at least 6 weeks in the fermenter; no problem carbonating.